Questions about purchasing from MarketingSherpa

Your report plus PDF order from SherpaStore

Most Sherpa Publications are available in PDF only or Print and PDF. The PDF is for your personal, individual use only (i.e., a single user license). You may print the PDF for your own use. If your colleagues would like copies, please encourage them to buy their own.

Once you've completed your purchase, an instant download link for your PDF (along with the password to open that PDF) will appear on your Thank You (Receipt) page online. A confirmation email (sent from service@marketingsherpa.com) is automatically sent when you complete your order; this email contains a link to your Thank You receipt. If you lose your receipt or the accompanying confirmation email, simply contact Customer Service at service@sherpastore.com and we'll email you a replacement immediately - often within a few minutes.

Having problems downloading or saving your PDF? Here's the easiest way to download your PDF: Use the right mouse button to click on the download link (Mac OS users with a 1-button mouse should use control-click) and select the 'save target as' option. This will save the PDF to your computer without trying to open it; a much better option when you're dealing with large PDF files. Once the download is complete, double-click on the saved file icon, or launch Adobe Acrobat Reader and choose Open from the file menu and select the file. Remember to have your password ready (It appears on your receipt, immediately to the right of the download link - we display it in red to made it a bit easier to see).

Your printed-and-bound copy of the report is normally shipped out to you the next business day. Your domestic shipping choices are US Priority Mail (2-5 business days in transit) and Federal Express; Our FedEx order cut-off time is 2:00pm Eastern Time on business days. For international orders we use Priority Mail International (3-10 business days in transit) whenever available. For countries where Priority Mail International is not available, International Airmail (4-14 business days in transit) is used. Please be advised that there are weight limits on all international orders, so large orders may arrive in multiple packages.

Shipping and handling costs are as fair as possible. (We don't make a cent of profit on shipping.) Shipping costs are explained in your shopping cart more fully.

If you purchase a third-party (i.e., non-Sherpa published) report or book from our store, we'll also ship the next business day. See the specific product description page in our store for format options. Most non-Sherpa publications do not include both PDF and print.

Single articles are no longer available for purchase from MarketingSherpa's Library. Articles that were published within the past 7 days, are available free of charge.

Our prices are based on usefulness and the costs of creating the Library. Unlike most news articles, MarketingSherpa content is not out-of-date in a few days. It's also not written and "planted" by a PR person, vendor or a consultant out to make a name for themselves. Our articles are written by trained in-house staff who spend hours researching and writing each one based on primary source interviews. (Our average source interview lasts at least 50 minutes.)

In fact, we estimate the average article costs about $900 and the average Case Study costs about $1200 to research, write, edit and post online for you. Thanks for helping us make this resource possible.

Want to share copies of an article or Case Study with others? Sorry, we do not allow reprints of our articles at this time. However, if you simply want to share an extract of our article, you may quote no more than three original sentences for free with our blessing.

MarketingSherpa Summits nearly always sell out a week or more prior to the actual event dates. We strongly recommend advance reservations.

If you reserve a ticket and request to be invoiced, we'll send you an invoice immediately. However, we will not send your printed ticket or guarantee your seat at the event until payment is received in full.

You can get a 100% refund for any ticket if you contact us to cancel it 30 days or more prior to the event itself. You must submit your cancellation in writing at least 30 days prior to the event. Please email us your cancellation at service@sherpastore.com.
Cancellations received 30 days or more prior to the event will receive a 100% refund. Cancellations received 29-7 days prior to the event will receive a credit of 50% of purchase price towards a future event minus $100 processing fee. Credit expires after 12 months. For cancellations received 6 days or less prior the event, no refunds will be made nor credits given.
No refunds will be issued after the event.
No refunds will be issued for no-shows, travel delays, missed sessions or cancellations after the start of the event.
Substitutions/name changes may be made at any time prior to the event without penalty.

All publications in SherpaStore are covered by our 100% satisfaction guarantee whether we publish the item or we carry it for another publisher. If you are not satisfied with a particular purchase, simply return it within 30 days for a 100% refund of the cover price and any state taxes you may have paid on the purchase.

For printed (hard copy) products, just mail them back to us with a letter (address below). If a PDF or other electronic copy was included in your order, please wipe it from your computer's hard drive and destroy any printed copies of that PDF or downloaded materials. Then send a signed letter to the address below indicating you have done so.

Here's the return address you *must* use for letters and products:

MarketingSherpa Returns 4315 Pablo Oaks Court
Jacksonville, FL 32224

EVENTS

You may cancel a ticket anytime until 30 days prior to an event for a 100% refund. Cancellations received 29-7 days prior to the event will receive a credit of 50% of purchase price towards a future event minus $100 processing fee. Credit expires after 12 months.
For cancellations received 6 days or less prior the event, no refunds will be made nor credits given.
No refunds will be issued after the event.
No refunds will be issued for no-shows, travel delays, missed sessions or cancellations after the start of the event.
Substitutions/name changes may be made at any time prior to the event without penalty.

Yes, group and bulk discounts are available, if you wish to purchase four or more copies of a particular SherpaStore item, or if you wish to obtain discounts for a professional group such as an association or corporate department. Contact customer service at Service@sherpastore.com with your details and they'll get right back to you with our discounting schedule. No, we do not offer discounts to students or not-for-profit organizations as single-customers.

Would you like a proforma invoice for an item so you can cut a check? Or would you like to submit a purchase order to us? Contact service@sherpastore.com with the details and we'll get you an invoice right away. Products will be delivered upon receipt of your payment or a formal purchase order from a recognized institution.

In the past some PDFs of MarketingSherpa reports were available via the Amazon eDocs system. We are no longer selling via Amazon at this time in part because their systems are not able to honor our 100% satisfaction guarantee.

If you purchased a MarketingSherpa report at Amazon in the past, you must contact them directly for customer service questions.

We carry a limited number of handpicked books and reports by outside (third party) publishers in SherpaStore. These are chosen by our editors to represent the best of breed information sources and to supplement information already published by us. Most of these books are not commonly carried by other chain or online bookstores -- we're not replacing major bookstores, we're providing a unique service to our readers. If your book is already in major bookstores, the chances we'll carry it are very slim. If you've got something highly researched-yet-practical to offer, contact our Customer Service department and they'll forward to the appropriate editor.

We emailed you a copy when you ordered, and displayed one on your confirmation page for you to print out. However, if you lost your receipt, just let us know and we'll be happy to get you another one right away. Contact service@sherpastore.com

We only send email such as newsletter issues to people who specifically requested it by adding their name to our opt-in form. We do *not* harvest names from Web sites, use append services, or add names to our list on an "opt-out" basis. We are strictly opt-in.

In fact we used to be double opt-in, but found that confirmation messages were being eaten by filters, so people who wanted to be subscribers sometimes couldn't be. So we switched to single opt-in for the time being.

The highlights: we never rent, barter or otherwise allow names on our email lists to be mailed third party newsletters, offers, or other broadcast communications. We also won't email you promotional materials of our own unless you have specifically asked for them or you purchased an identical item such as a past edition of a particular title.

Questions about advertising, exhibitors and sponsorships:

- Info about advertising

We do not ever rent out our email names or send single "blasts" on behalf of sponsors. We also do not accept paid advertising in any of our newsletters or on our main Web site. See below for Summit sponsorship.

We accept a limited amount of sponsorship and exhibitors for MarketingSherpa Summits. Please note: we practice a strict church and state relationship between sponsorships and speaker selection. No business relationship with Sherpa will guarantee you a speaking gig -- only an exceptional speech topic, preferably with a client-side marketer beside you, will do that. Contact Dave.Green@MECLABS.com for more info. Note: we often sell out sponsorships well prior to the events, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Questions about appearing in MarketingSherpa stories and Summit speaking gigs:

- I'm in PR: How can I plant a story in a MarketingSherpa newsletter?

The short answer is, you can't. However, we are always interested in story ideas that we ourselves might research and write. Got an idea for someone we should interview or topic to cover? Click here for info.

Sign up for our Bests of the Week newsletter which comes out on Mondays. It's free, and subscriptions are available on our home page. We always run announcements when we are seeking speakers for several consecutive weeks in Best Of the Week. Note: Sponsorships or other business partnerships do not bear any weight when we select speakers. We select based entirely on topic and demonstrated hands-on expertise, preferably from the client-side of the fence.

- Book authors/publicists: How to be considered for our weekly book giveaway and review

Send a single review copy of your new book on a marketing-related topic to us. If we accept your title, we'll ask you to provide four more copies so we can give away a total of 5 copies. Yes, you can quote from our review which will appear MarketingSherpa's popular Best-of newsletter.

Inspired by the wonderful, information-rich feedback letters we get from readers about our research and stories, in August 2006 we added Comments interactivity to the site so you can post comments directly where the rest of the community can see them.

We do not edit comments, fix typos or grammatical errors. Hotlinks in comments are not made live. We do not reveal the email address of the commenter to the public. Legal note: All comments become the property of MarketingSherpa Inc.

Obviously comments lose their value when they are spam or sales pitches, so they are lightly moderated. Here's how:

To keep a fair playing field for all commenters, our editorial team will automatically DECLINE any and all comments that include any of the following items:

#1. Non-relevant content -- i.e., obvious spam.

#2. Language inappropriate for a professional setting (i.e., no profanity.)

#3. A sales pitch or promotional offer featuring hotlinks (or other contact information) to white papers, webinars, Web sites, blogs, podcasts, or other offers from vendors to the marketing field. (If you are a marketing consultant, ad agency, or other marketing technology, services, or media source, you are considered a "vendor to the marketing field.).

#4. Self promotional puffery or boasting from vendors to the field, even if it's only a small part of the comment's content.

If your comment is rejected, we will email you to let you know. Yes, you are heartily encouraged to re-submit your valuable comment minus the factor that caused us to decline it. We can't edit your comment on your behalf though. Thank you for your understanding and participation.

- We're a research and publishing firm -- not an agency or consultancy

Sometimes people get confused. They think we are an advertising agency or a marketing-related vendor or a consultancy. We're not. We're simply a research firm that happens to serve the information needs of the greater community of marketing professionals.

So we can't help you with your campaign, and we don't buy media. But, we do offer useful benchmark data, Case Studies, and Summits so you can help yourself.

You may link to our articles at no cost, and with our thanks. Your link will always work - our article addresses are permanent. However, we ask that you respect our copyright and not lift more than three-four sentences directly from any article for your blog or other publication. We also ask that you not copy charts, cartoons, or other graphics without our explicit permission. Our content *is* our product and we work extremely hard to develop it -- please don't steal. Thank you.

We frequently provide keynote and guest-star speakers to trade shows, association meetings, and internal corporate events. However, MarketingSherpa staff availability is limited -- we have about 20 openings per year and these are generally booked 6-9 months in advance. So, in addition, we offer virtual speeches -- participating in webinars, teleseminars, and videocasts for about 40 groups per year. For information on either opportunity, contact Dave.Green@MECLABS.com

The views and opinions expressed in the articles of this website are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect in any way the views of MarketingSherpa, its affiliates, or its employees.